Weekly Recap
This week, we continued bringing more systems online as the Rutgers
crew rigged up the F/V Defiance down in Cape May and the ODN team worked
with George, Huanxin, and Joaquim to iron out a few kinks on vessels up
on the North Shore and in Southern Maine. Thanks to Captains Chad,
Rusty, and Dominic for their patience this week. Thanks also to everyone
who has followed up with us after the cooperative research summit, the
Lobster Town Hall, and the Mass Lobstermen’s Weekend. We received
interest from over 30 new vessels and look forward to working with all
of you.

Figure 1 – Captain Bill and Joey from the Rutgers install team
walk through the displays on an eMOLT deckbox aboard the F/V Defiance
earlier this week.
It’s cold out there, at least on the surface. The plot below shows
sea surface temperature from the last four years as well as the anomaly
relative to the time period from 2000-2020. This year, with the
exception of the large warm ring around 64W, 40N it’s much colder than
it’s been off the edge of the shelf. Thanks to Dr. Kim Hyde over in the
Ecosystem Dynamics and Assessment Branch for sharing these images.

Figure 2 – (Top) Sea surface temperatures for late January /
early February in (L-R) 2022-2025. Blue represents colder temps, red
represents warmer temps. (Bottom) Sea surface temperature anomaly
(difference from the 2000-2020 average) for late January / early
February in (L-R) 2022-2025. Purple represents water that’s colder than
average, yellow and orange are warmer than average.
As always, it’s helpful to have multiple pieces of data to be able to
look at oceanographic conditions from different vantage points. Even
with all that cold water at the surface, bottom conditions are actually
much warmer in some places (see the magenta profile out on Eastern
Georges where the temp around 100 fathoms is ~12 F warmer than the
surface or the red profile near Hudson Canyon where temps are nearly 55
at the bottom, but only in the mid 40s at the surface).
This week, the eMOLT fleet recorded 193 tows of sensorized fishing
gear totaling 1128 sensor hours underwater. The warmest recorded bottom
temperature was 52.4 F inside Cape Cod Bay in approximately 65 fathoms
(red profile) and the coldest recorded bottom temperature was 32.4 F
near Hudson Canyon in approximately 7 fathoms (blue profile). Below, you
can see these profiles plus a few other temperature profiles of interest
across the region from the last week.

Figure 3 – Temperature profiles collected by eMOLT participants
over the last week. The blue profile is where the coldest bottom
temperature was measured and the red profile is where the warmest bottom
temperature was measured. All other colors are assigned randomly.
Colored points on the map indicate where profiles of the same color were
collected. The small dark green dots represent other profiles collected
this week, but not highlighted in the plot. Note that the warmest /
coldest bottom temperatures measured could have occurred during gear
soaks, which are not represented on this profile plot.
Finally, we just wanted to offer a quick thanks to Capt. Malcolm on
the F/V Bulldog who provided some feedback on ways we could improve the
graphics in these emails. We’ll see what we can do over the next few
weeks. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to George directly or to other
folks in the Cooperative Research Branch if you have a suggestion or
request.
System Hardware Upgrade List
The following vessels remain on our list for hardware upgrades. If
you aren’t on the list and think you should be, please reach out.
Note that this list is different from our new install
queue.
- F/V Kaitlyn Victoria
- F/V Kyler C
- F/V Noella C
- F/V Sea Watcher I
- F/V Virginia Marise
Bottom Temperature Forecasts
Doppio
This week, 50% of bottom temperature observations were within 2
degrees (F) of the Doppio forecasted value at those points. Temps were
warmer than expected along the northern edge of Georges, down by Hudson
Canyon, and off the Maine coast. Temps were cooler than forecast on the
shelf southeast of Great South Bay on Long Island. The forecast
performed well southwest of Great South Bay, Cape Cod Bay, and along the
backside of Cape Cod.

Figure 4 – Performance of the Doppio forecast’s bottom
temperature layer over the last week relative to observations collected
by eMOLT participants. Red dots indicate areas where bottom temperature
observations were warmer that predicted. Blue dots indicate areas where
bottom temperature observations were cooler than predicted. Bottom
temperature observations are compared with the most recent forecast run
available before the observation was made.

Figure 5 – The most recent Doppio bottom temperature forecast.
The gray line is the 50 fathom line and the black line is the hundred
fathom line. Purple shades indicate cooler water.
Northeast Coastal Ocean Forecast System

Figure 6 – The most recent bottom temperature forecast from the
Northeast Coastal Ocean Forecast System GOM7 model. Purple shades
indicate cooler water.

Figure 7 – The most recent bottom temperature forecast from the
Northeast Coastal Ocean Forecast System MassBay model. Purple shades
indicate cooler water.
Announcements
Northeast Experimental On-Demand Gear System Testing Underway
The 2025 testing season for On Demand Gear is underway in Southern
New England (see map below). For more information, check out the experimental
fishery webpage here. 
Northeast Cooperative Research Summit Feedback Requested
If you attended the Northeast Cooperative Research Summit, please
fill out this five
minute feedback form to let us know how we did. Your input will help
determine the format and content of this event in the future. Thanks
again for your participation and enthusiasm, and please don’t hesitate
to reach out for future conversations.
Disclaimer
The eMOLT Update is NOT an official NOAA document. Mention of
products or manufacturers does not constitute an endorsement by NOAA or
Department of Commerce. The content of this update reflects only the
personal views of the authors and does not necessarily represent the
views of NOAA Fisheries, the Department of Commerce, or the United
States.
All the best,
-George and JiM